Excellent stuff - I ahdn't read this before, but I think it safe to say I will be contacting them about the Nationwide who notified me that they would pay my few thousand pounds but close my account in the process. Oh well, that'll give me something to moan about well towards Easter!!!

My thought there too - how was he sold the PPI? Did they know he was sef-employed? Or did the put the PPI down as a mandatory part of the agreement?

Jeeez - that's a serious amount of goodwill they have towards you! I think I'll start looking back over my old statement today and compile the list!

They done exactly the same thing to me after I opened my accoun. One monute the overdraft was there..................the next it was gone! Like you, I had no conytac tat all from them - no letter, email or anything.

Dotman, Well done! How did you find your claim against Smile - easy, difficult, problematic? I think they're next on my list so it would be useful to know what I'm letting myself in for!

Smile - ethical? Yeah, not to us that's for sure. I've just found out they've cancelled all my direct debits (without warning), this the month after they didn't pay my mortgage even though there was sufficient money in the account as 'we weren't to know your money was there'. Errrrrrr? So, I now have a £35 charge on my mortgage because they didn't pay my mortgage of £792 when there was £1400 in my account! Similarly, after the end of my first month with them, I faced loads of direct debit charges and started getting letters about my car loan, mortgage, etc. Smile had withdrawn my overdraft without warning. When I phoned up they said, "That was an error - we admit it". To say I'm angry with Smile is a complete understatement. I've had no communication from them at all when they've done these things and I've had to bear the financial ramifications of their button pushing. Even today trying to call them to find out what the hell has happened to my direct debits I was told, "The dept who deal with that aren't in till Monday". And this months direct debits are due to come off in the next few days! Just when you thought you were getting over your money worries and this happens. Certainly nothing to friggin' well Smile about in my house at the moment.

Good. It's about time someone hauled these people over the coals about their behaviour. I had calls from them on an hourly basis when they were chasing me - all of which consisted of charges which they paid back after my first letter! One of their calls came within half an hour of my Dad dying - the only reason the phone was switched back on (it was only switched off because of their harassment) was to await a call from the medical practice to confirm when a Doctor would be over to record his death. Even explaining that to them, they really didn't care.

They would most likely use the electoral register which is widely available.

MBNA certainly called me about the people that used to live downstairs from me. There was certainly no chance whatsoever of me going to speak to them as the guy was a headcase who - we discovered after a did a runner - was frequently off his head on butane gas! The thoughts of going to his door and saying, "Ummmm, I got a message from MBNA......um, can you call them.........." was not one which fills me with pleasure!

Any suggestions on how to get out of a railway career would be most welcome!

The Collections team at HBoS used to ask for me by my full name, but then started to asking for me by my first name to try and catch me out. I just used to say, "Which one.........." and made out that there were two of me at that address. Interestingly, when my scabby fraudster criminal neighbours were in place (before doing a midnight flit - curiously a day after CID were banging on their door!), I used to get calls from DCAs asking me to go to the flat downstairs and leave messages for them! I used to refuse, "No way - they're psychos and junkies who've nearly forced me out of my own home and if you want to speak to them, you can bloody well do it yourself".

Be careful though if you are in dispute with the Banks - HBoS issued a default to CRAs on my file while I'd been waiting to appear in court. Complained and a few days later got a nic letter from the Chief Exec's Office apologising for the ditress they'd caused me and guaranteeing removal of the default within 2 days (which has happened!).

I think it absolutely awful the way you've been treated. I was unemployed last year and every single penny of it went into feeding HBoS's charges. £56 went in each week, and roughly £300 went out each month on charges. I got it back with interest recently, and I'm about the start on my RBoS credit card. I will take as much pleasure getting my money back from them as I did HBoS, Nationwide and MBNA. Good luck - I know how it feels and wish you all the best.

It has - thanks! The problem I found myself in was that I've been paying so much monthly to remove up my arrears following my period of unemployment that I'm left with a minus figure every month. In the time that I've been back working, there have been 1's showing on my record and that nasty 4 from Cahoot (who spent ages dallying with their PPI before deciding I wasn't getting any!) which was returned to a nice '0' within 3 months (so, I was paying about £400 a month back in Cahoot loans on top of my £900 in mortgage, my £500 in car and my £200 in council tax arrears). Despite having a 4 weekly income of £1600, I was able to find £2K per month to get back on an even keel (so thanks Mr Halifax for giving me back my reclaimed charges!). I've literally been on bread and water for 8 months to get back to where I am. Unfortunately, I can't shout loudly enough about that to the computer that makes decisions as to my credit worthiness, but I have been told that I can state my case to an underwriter. Hopefully the comparison of my budget A "As it is now" and Budget B "What it could be" will allow them to see this as a good opportunity for both of us, despite the initial reaction of their computer programme! Thanks for your answer - credit scoring seems to perplex so many of us!

I got lucky with that one - it was a family run garage who have a very good reputation for customer car. I guess would definitely buy a car from then in future now which I guess is their ploy!

My own credit score is 455 which lists me as 'very poor'. Is it likely to change at any point in the future? I mean, how long would it take to return to the land of the financially acceptable as opposed to being the leper I am now!? While we get points against us for missing payments, etc, do we gain them by making payments within the timescale? When an account is settled, do we gain points? It seems unreasonable that we have this score like a noose around our necks when the cuase of the financial problems are often not of our choosing, i.e. unemployment, divorce, illness, etc. Would be great if someone who used to work for Experian was around here and feeling helpful!

Yeah - I'm hoping that they look upon things realistically instead of using a simple credit score. I'm really getting despondent with the whole credit score thing as it totally ignores anything which may explain your inability to meet credit commitments, such as unemployment or illness. Instead, a computer produces a score and you are either refused or rejected according to this. Anyhow, I digress! I tried using the Co-operative which is who my current account is with. If they looked at that, they would see what my normal d/d is compared with those being spent correctng my arrears and see that I'm not ignoring my debt, I'm trying to tackle it, my job requires me to have a good credit record, and if I do let things slip, I lose my career as well as my credit records. Seems 7 months out of work, and suddenly I'm a financial leper. So much for social inclusion!

I had that happen with Welcome Finance - a big concern for me as my ghastly fraudster neighbours were still living nearby applying for credit using the details of just about every other person in the street! I wrote to Welcome and they notified the CRAs themselves and sent me eveidence of this to retract the searches.

Allyxia - my own score is 455 which puts me in the 'very poor' category. Something I'm slightly surprised by as all missed payments and things were all due entirely to a period of unemployment. I have had lots of credit, but these have been met without any problems. There are quite a few credit records on there which relate to accounts which have been settled but I thought that would help my status?

My worst is a 4 on a Cahoot loan which is now back to zero as I've paid double on everything to get back to evens! There are a few ones and two's dotted about given my unemployment - the infuriating thing being that everything was perfect prior to unemployment! One stint in unemployment (which can happen to absolutely anyone) and that's you stuffed for years apparently. I thought my plan made reasonable sense - even the adviser I spoke to was convinced although it's obviously not her decision. Although, apparently some banks would rather see people put at risk of losing their home than give them an opportunity to become a responsible customer with them again. Do you know what your actual score is, Allyxia? I mean, are you 'very poor', 'fair' or 'good'??? Can I also ask you to PM me the details of the lender you are now with? Also, are you tied into their deal for any length of time? And what the PPI provisions are on the mortgage? As I'm out of my fixed rate, your 5.85% is way better than my 7.19%!

Hi - I have recently tried changing my mortgage as part of my efforts to be debt-free (well, more manageable anyway!). I have a £10K Halifax credit card, and 2 other credit cards with balances of just under £2K each. I have just came off the fixed rate for the mortgage I have been on for 5 years, and planned to remortgage incorporating the £10K of HBoS credit card debt into the mortgage which, on the product I've been looking at, reduces my monthly outgoings by £300. On top of this, my car loan ends this month, so I'm another £220 per month better off. So, the additional £520 per month put towards my remaining cards means that I'll be able to pay both of those off within 14 months (and allow me to reclaim the charges on those too 8) !!!!). So, my great plan was hatched, and despite the obvious benefits to myself, I've been knocked back! Apparently the computer didn't like my credit score which is 'Very Poor' according to Credit Expert after 7 months of unemployment last year and all the missed payments on my financial commitments which ensued. Despite the debts that accrued during that time, I have made substantial efforts in the months that I have since been working (now 8 months in a permament role with an organisation which employs over 30K people), and have been paying 2 mortgage payments every month, 2 council tax payments every month, 2 car loan payments every month, 2 home improvement loans every month for the past 3 or 4 months, and I'm back on an even keel after some really hard work over recent months to do so. I've also used my reclaimed charges to close 2 current accounts where there were large overdrafts, and also use these reclaimed charges to close 3 credit cards which totalled balances of £1,700. So, positive headway in the past few months after a difficult time, but still passed over for the remortgage. I'd be interested in other people's ideas as to where I can go with this. The Bank whcih rejected me have suggested I state my case in writing, provide a copy of my credit report, and they will look into the situation. I think I've composed a reasonably good solution to the problem, and will allow me to be debt-free (apart from the mortgage) within a year and a half but substantially better off each month. Would I be getting my hopes up that the Bank may look upon me sympathetically, or should I give up on this idea and look elsewhere? Do you think my proposal to incorporate the HBoS debt into the mortgage is a good one or foolhardy? Would be interested to hear other people's ideas on this.

I've certainly tried! It seems strange that I bought my first one-bedroomed flat in Edinburgh in 1999 for £31K yet it was in band B along with the neighbouring flats which were all two bedroomed and costs roughly £15K more. I'm probably onto a loser given that I sold the property in 2001, but a sizeable number of the one bedroomed properties within the street were in Band A and mine was in Band B. All a bit strange I think. Still, it's worth a go! Wonder if the Assessors will contact the present owner about it? Definitely worth a go from her point of view if not mine. Does anyone know if a proposal is acceptable, would it lead to amendments and rebates from 1991 onwards or just for the proposer? Although I may not be eligible to make an issue of it, I wonder if it would be worthwhile encouraging the present owner to do this if the benefit eventually gets back to me?

Good news - they gave me my deposit back. Very happy as I was worried that the £500 had gone for the family car dealership!

Advice needed people. I paid a deposit for a car this weekend which I had every intention of buying. However, while completing the paperwork for the loan, I was told that my application was being rejected, despite being accepted verbally. So, tried a few other places and they shunned me too! So, I phoned to cancel the car (which causes problems as my present car involves spending good money after bad - another £700 required next month on top of the £533 paid this month for the MOT and service so it would be cheaper having a new one!), and was told that the deposit was non-refundable. Nowhere on the document I signed does it state that the deposit was non-refundable, and neither was this stated by the salesperson. What's worse is that the deposit was made by someone else on my behalf so I really could do with getting it back!!! Would be grateful for any advice!

I tend to get very broad Scots when these calls start! When someone from the Indian call centre starts with," Hello, can I speak woth Bathgatebuyer please?" "Aye whit's sis aw' aboot there n'at, no?" Lasts about 5 secs before they give up and I get some piece and quiet.